


Fireworks

by phylavell



Category: Batgirl (Comics), Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics), Nightwing (Comics)
Genre: F/M, Fourth of July, Gen, Platonic Romance, Songfic, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-04
Updated: 2015-02-04
Packaged: 2018-03-10 11:31:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3288764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phylavell/pseuds/phylavell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>In between being young and being right, you were my Versailles at night.</i>
</p>
<p>Barbara takes Dick to go see a fireworks show.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fireworks

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know what this is I just heard the line "You and I were fireworks that went off too soon" and just kind of spit this out. That line is the general theme of this. Again no beta, and reads/feedback are lovely and thank you in advance. 
> 
> The song this is (mostly) set to is "Fourth of July" by Fall Out Boy, by the way.

A familiar calm feeling flowed through him as he watched person after person be loaded into the various police cars that crowded the alley. The mixture of wind and smog pushed his hair forward as he sat atop of a nearby building and watched the flicker of blue and red lights flood the area. The night was warm and as always, welcome. 

From behind him he heard the faintest noise of a landing. Had he been anyone else he would have missed the sound of the calculated steps and precise landing angle. He didn’t look up; he knew who it was. Bruce would have never showed up at the end. 

“Any luck with your dad?” he asked the street below him.

“No,” a feminine voice said from behind him. He feels her sit beside him and doesn’t look to meet her eyes.

“He’s as stubborn as you are, you know,” she said with a chuckle.

“I am not stubborn,” he replied.

“There you have it,” she looked down to see the police cars driving up the street. They sat in silence for a few moments before he finally turned to face her. She met his glance and smiled from beneath her cowl.

He smiled back, “He’ll come around, you know,”

She nodded, “I know,”

“Do you know what day it is?” She suddenly asked.

“Tuesday,” he replies nonchalantly. She shook her head immediately.

“Come on,” she stands and within a matter of seconds he sees her swing away from the rooftop. He followed without question. He followed her for a number of blocks before she finally came to a stop atop of a bank. He dropped down beside her and was about to ask why they were there when she began ascending the taller building beside the bank.

The two were soon atop of a high rooftop with a near perfect view of crime alley. He looked down at the series of run down apartments and homes with a frown, why were they there? He turned to ask her but stopped when he’d noticed she was no longer standing beside him. She had moved closer to the centre of the rooftop where a pillar cast a dark shadow.

She stood beneath it, cowl removed. 

He looked at her curiously and stepped forward, “Babs?” he asked as soon as he was close enough.

She smiled and shook her head, “Over there,” she gestured to the wide space of a park that was also very visible. He followed her gaze.

An enormous crowd of people were gathered in the park. He spotted children with glowsticks and families sitting on blankets. She turned back to look at him and cocked her head to the side.

“Think hard, Dick,” she said as she looked back to the crowd, “what was yesterday?”

“Monday,” he replied still looking at various groups of people, attempting to find any sign of foul play. For the moment, he saw none.

“Date,” she said.

“The third of Jul- oh,” the significance of the date dawned on him as he thought back to when he had begun the case he had been working. He’d completely lost track of time and nearly laughed out loud when he met Barbara’s gaze, “I see,”

“I’ve only seen this one once and I think they do a better job than the one downtown,” she explained, “it’s like they know the kids here need more hope than the rest,”

He nodded and turned back to scan the crowd and the lack of any crime was almost surprising. He supposed at the end of the day most criminals had a backbone. She sat down with her back resting against the square pillar.

“Stop worrying, it’ll be fine. And it’s not like we can’t get anyone who even tries to get away with anything before they leave the park,” she gestured for him to sit beside her. With one final scan of the crowd he relented. He sat down beside her and she leaned forward to remove his mask. He turned and met her eyes. She smiled softly and he found himself wanting to lean forward. He didn’t.

She turned to face the crowd again. He watched the outline of her profile for a few moments before turning as well. There was a series of boxes and a number of people in their line of vision meaning they were a good distance away from the majority of the crowd. There was a series of fireworks set up and some of the people had begun forming a smaller group a good distance away from the fireworks.

Within a few minutes of comfortable silence he saw a spark and watched as a little black smudge soared into the sky and exploded into an ocean of colour. He smiled at the cheering from the large crowd and turned to see Barbara smile as well.

He watched the group again and the waves of colour they brought and smiled. He felt Barbara move closer to him and his arm quickly moved around her waist as she leaned her head on his shoulder. After a few more fireworks had gone off he rested his head against the back of the pillar and a sense of peace flowed through him that he hadn’t been able to properly feel in a long time.

She wasn’t in his life like that, not anymore. He knew the chances of it every happening again were slim and at times he felt it was unfair, but most of the time he was just happy to have her in his life. 

A wild grin sprang up on his face as a number of fireworks shot up to form the bat symbol. He looked down to notice her own grin. A few minutes later the fireworks show had ended but they remained in their position.

“This was nice,” he said watching the small group collect the boxes they had brought the fireworks in.

“I knew you’d like it. Plus you deserve a rest after what I’m sure you obsessed yourself with,” she looked up at him knowingly. 

He said nothing and shrugged. She shook her head and stood.

“You’re just like Bruce sometimes, you know?” She said as she moved her cowl back onto her face.

“I’m really not, you know that Bruce doesn’t even sleep between cases,” He said as-a-matter-of-factly.

She shook her head again, “I didn’t mean that,” She looked back down at the crowd, “I mean I can feel your wanting to jump down there and check on the crowd.”

They share a look and he put his mask back on. As she turned to jump off the building she watched him begin to run.

Within a matter of seconds they were both in the air.


End file.
